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Indiana Eco-Traveler Update: December 16, 2018

German Ridge revisited; A Hoosier National vacation plan

Firearm season in the Hoosier National Forest kept brief a couple blaze-orange-required hikes along the German Ridge Trail in late November. The 24-mile backcountry path is the southernmost section of the Hoosier’s 260-mile trail system and rises and falls a couple miles north of a 90-degree bend in the Ohio River near the historic German Ridge Cemetery and riverside village of Rome, Ind., population 1,300.

Planned after precautionary deer-season discussions with Forest Service officials in Tell City, the day hikes marked a return to this remote section of Perry County backcountry last explored in March 2015. It was also the first stop in a six-month itinerary that resumes in earnest over the Christmas teaching vacation and will end with submission of the Rewilding Southern Indiana: The Hoosier National Forest coffee table book to IU Press next June.

Next stop on the Hoosier trail will be the most significant prehistoric site on the 204,000-acre national forest: a rock shelter frequented by prehistoric hunters and gatherers over thousands of years following the retreat of the last Ice Age glaciers some ten thousand years ago. This obscure, secretive site is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, requires bushwhacking off-trail and has a limited window for access without special permission.

A Guide to Natural Areas of Northern Indiana

The latest Natural Bloomington nature book – A Guide to Natural Areas of Northern Indiana: 125 Unique Places to Explore — will be published by IU Press in Spring 2019.

Like its companion – A Guide to Natural Areas of Southern Indiana, IU Press 2016 – this roughly 400-page volume will tell the stories of what little is left of the state’s natural history, this time from Interstate 70 north to the Michigan State Line.

Both guides provide readers with comprehensive descriptions of the natural characteristics and recreational opportunities found at nature preserves, forests, wildlife areas, parks, and lakes in all four corners of the state – from Posey to Lake to Steuben to Dearborn Counties – with historical contexts and turn-by-turn/GPS directions.

The Northern Indiana sites are owned and managed by a variety of public and private organizations, including ACRES Land Trust, whose Executive Director Jason Kissell wrote the Foreword. Landscapes run the gamut, from canyon to prairie to swamp to lake, much forested, much in open sun. All are open to the public.

A Guide to Natural Areas of Northern Indiana will feature 140 color photographs captured between June 2016 and November 2017.

Nature Photo eBook - This is Indiana?

Natural Bloomington is pleased to announce release of our first Nature Photo eBook This is Indiana? - The Natural Bloomington Journey: 2013-2015.

This is Indiana? is a photographic retrospective of Natural Bloomington's first three years and features 105 hi res, full-color images of the Southern Indiana landscape from the Switzerland Hills to the Southwest Lowlands.You can download a copy of This is Indiana? for free. A $10 contribution is requested.

Natural Bloomington continues to evolve

From ecotours to nature books

Natural Bloomington's transition from ecotourism to nature book publishing continued in 2017 with the completion of A Guide to Natural Areas of Northern Indiana, which will be published in Spring 2019.

The Northern Indiana volume is a companion to A Guide to Natural Areas of Southern Indiana, IU Press 2016, which featured 119 natural areas -- public and private nature preserves, state parks, fish & wildlife areas, etc. -- that are managed for flora, fauna, and outdoor recreation.

The focus has now shifted to a coffee table book tentatively titled The Hoosier National Forest: Rewilding Southern Indiana, which will likewise be published by IU Press.

We - owner Steven Higgs and family and friends who support the Natural Bloomington Mission in so many ways - will still arrange ecotours on request.

But the emphasis for the next two years will be exploriong solo what little is left of the unexpected natural beauty that is still to be found in Indiana, north and south.

"In this guidebook, Steven Higgs has compiled and written a hundred times more good, useful information about my native state's natural treasures than I ever learned in eighty years of crawling, hiking, riding, swimming, and paddling all over them.”

To purchase a copy and support the Natural Bloomington mission, click here.

Mission

Natural Bloomington's mission is to celebrate and share Southern Indiana's natural beauty through image,prose and ecotourism.

Ecotourism

Through our Historic, Environmental & Scenic Ecotours, Natural Bloomington subscribes to the principles set down by the International EcoTourism Society for “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people."

Natural Bloomington welcomes the opportunity to lead groups on ecotours during any season of the year.

The Back Country Area of Morgan-Monroe State Forest, located about 15 miles northeast of Bloomington, is among the most remote and rugged forestlands in the state of Indiana. The state established the back country in 1981 to "offer an experience of visiting a forested area looking much the same as it may have appeared a century and a half ago."

The Back Country is part of the 24,000-acre Morgan-Monroe, which is owned and managed by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry. The forest is characterized by steep, forested ridges and valleys that, in the early 20th century, had been logged and abandoned by the original settlers, who found its rocky soil unsuitable for agriculture after the trees were gone.

Like all state forests, Morgan-Monroe is managed for “multiple use,” meaning the forest must provide for a variety of public uses, from resource extraction – primarily logging – to “amenities” for the public good, including hiking, birdwatching, fishing and camping. In addition, Morgan-Monroe has an historic rental cabin, three lakes and picnicking.

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The 23,200-acre Yellowwood State Forest adjoins Morgan-Monroe shares its history and natural characteristics. Together, the two form one of the largest blocks of forest in the state.

In addition to the steep, wooded ridges and ravines, Yellowwood includes three pristine lakes, hiking trails, picnic tables, a playground, horse trails, wildlife and camping. The 20-mile Ten O’Clock Line Hiking Trail runs between Yellowwood Lake and Brown County State Park.

Among the animal species that thrive in Yellowwood’s forested acres are Whitetail Deer, Ruffed Grouse, squirrel, turkey and fox. Birds include the Great Horned Owl, Eastern Screech-Owl, Barred Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owls, Wood Thrushes, all of the Indiana thrushes and many species of warblers.

The largest of the three lakes is the 133-acre, 30-foot deep Yellowwood Lake. Noted for its excellent fishing, the lake offers rowboat rentals, a ramp for boats (electric motors only), picnic areas and camping. Bear Lake and Crooked Creek Lake are also popular recreation and fishing areas in Yellowwood.

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At 202,000 acres, the Hoosier National Forest is Indiana’s largest public land mass, stretching from Lake Monroe to the Ohio River. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service, the Hoosier, like state forests, is managed for multiple uses, from logging to backpacking.

Hoosier National or Hoosier, as the forest is more commonly called, features a wide mix of natural and man-made features, including high-quality, resilient and rare ecosystems; rolling-to-rugged hills and valleys; seasonal creeks and streams; back-country trails; and rural, crossroad communities.

The 13,000-acre Charles Deam Wilderness Area is the only federally protected wilderness in Indiana that is permanently off limits to logging and other extractive uses, such as oil and gas production.